


The Carpet

by a_wonderingmind



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: :), F/M, Gen, My First Fanfic, Not sorry at all, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, my brain is just full of fluff, pls notice me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11715543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_wonderingmind/pseuds/a_wonderingmind
Summary: Peggy and Daniel come home to find a sight not often seen...





	The Carpet

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first foray into fandom writing and I'm just hoping ppl enjoy :D  
> This came out of a prompts challenge I set myself to get going again - it was meant to be about 500 words, but it had other ideas, it seems. I might post some of the other ones I did. We'll see?  
> Unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine!

Peggy and Daniel stumbled through the door, dropping their keys on the bowl as they each passed. Peggy took Daniel’s hand in hers and flashed a tired smile. The corners of his mouth lifted a little and his weary eyes smiled back.  
“Oh, bloody hell,”  
“What?”  
“I forgot we left Edie with Jack.”  
“Well, the house is quiet. I don’t know whether I should take that as a good or a bad sign,” he sighed. Stepping forward, he poked his head around the corner of the living room door. The scene that met his eyes caused him to grin.  
“Peg, come see,”  
Her head appeared around the corner as she too took in the almost adorable picture.  
Jack, the ornery, recalcitrant, Jack was sprawled on their sofa, mouth open and snoring quietly, their small human splayed on the good side of his chest. The most surprising part of this whole view, though, was the bright red lipstick smeared everywhere. On Edie’s hands (and consequently on Jack’s shirt), up both their arms, on Jack’s cheeks, nose, lips and…

the carpet. 

Peggy was the first to notice the trails of red in circles on the carpet and rug and in patterns not dissimilar to that of a crawling child. She simply sighed and went to pick her up as she stirred and gurgled happily in greeting. The reduced weight on his chest seemed to rouse Jack, and he mumbled “Wait no give ‘er back I’m menna be looking after her for… Marge.” Edie giggled. 

<> >< <>

Daniel put down the phone with a defeated sigh.  
“That was Rose. She’s had a surprise visit from her mother, as she is apparently partial to doing. She is demanding that Rose take her out to dinner tonight. Have we got anyone else who could babysit? The Jarvises are still babysitting Howard, aren't they? He looked at his wife questioningly then something akin to a grimace sped over his face.  
“I have a terrible idea.”

And so this is how a still slightly sore Jack was roped into looking after the Carter-Sousa brat for an evening. It couldn't be too hard, he told himself as he stepped into the house. He had looked after his cousins as a teen, and Max had been a monster, but manageable. She’s only eight months old for gods sakes, how hard could it really be?  
“I’ve just fed her,” Peggy started - he considered raising a provocative eyebrow, but didn’t really fancy another broken rib to add to the ones he gained from the las thug he took on, by fist or by crutch, so he refrained - “but she’ll need another around eight pm, and normally falls asleep by eight thirty. We just need you to be around to be here if she wakes; I trust you can amuse yourself for a few hours,”  
“Yessir Marge sir,”  
She just rolled her eyes.  
“We’ll see you in a few hours then,”  
He watched as she went over to Edie in her chair and did her smoochy goodbye thing before picking her up and bringing her over to Danny for him to say goodbye as well. Her little hands reached up and patted his face, prompting a raspberry and smile from Chief. How sickly sweet, he thought, but somehow he didn’t mind. They were kind of adorable - Peg, and Leg and baby. Of course, if he had been asked about it he would have denied it vehemently.

Peggy walked over to him and placed Edie in his arms.  
“Time to say bye bye!” she cooed. Edie gurgled, and smacked her lips together. All the adults burst out laughing and she looked around, confused, before joining in herself. The huddle of adults moved towards the door and Edie started to strain, reaching for her Pai as he put his hand on the door.  
“I’ll be back soon sweetie,” he said, reaching over and kissing the crown of her head. She giggled and waved her arms around but as soon as the door closed the happy burbling turned to an increasingly concerned protest. The mamamama from next to Jack’s ear turned into soft whimpering, then an almost piercing wail. Jack tensed, and the heard the teasing voice of his Gam Gam gently mocking him for being scared of someone who had barely walked (or crawled) this earth a year. He remembered what he had seen countless aunts do, and bounced her on one hip while bending down to pick up a well-worn bear from among the toys strewn across the floor and wiggled it in front of her. She grabbed the face of the bear and the already well chewed ear went straight into the mouth. Ew, he thought, as he used another of his aunt’s old tricks and gently wrestled it out of her mouth, wiggling it and pulling gently. The ragged thing came free and he bopped her on the nose with it. She squealed.

Looking around for the first time, he took stock of the room properly. A rattle in the corner in between the sofa and the armchair a wooden train set scattered over the rug (courtesy of Uncle Howard, no doubt) and a bag of blocks leaning up against a playpen. At least he didn't have to hold Edie to keep an eye on her when he warmed her milk. Suddenly, the small human in his arms threw herself onto the carpet and knocked him back. He scowled at her and she just smiled sweetly up at him from her position sprawled on the floor. She looked up at him expectantly.  
“What do you want me to do?”  
She pointed to the train and squawked.  
He eyed her sceptically.  
“Do you understand me?”  
She shrieked, almost indignantly.  
“Of course you do,” he mumbled, “you’re Danny and Marge’s kid.”

<> >< <>

The first indication of how long they had been there was the lengthening shadows that striped the floor. The second was that Edie, with her chubby little hands, pressed her fingertips to her thumb and poked her chin with the fist. Jack was at first confused, but then looked round at the clock.  
“Ssshh- ugar, it’s time I fed you,”  
HE got himself up and quickly scooped Edie up and deposited her in the playpen, before dashing into the kitchen to get a pan out for the milk.

Coming back into the room with the warm glass bottle he was surprised to find an absence of Edie and an open playpen. Although he really shouldn’t have been surprised perhaps. HE set the milk down on the side table and started to search the house (“Dear God I hope she’s not in the bathroom,”) - a quick head round the door allayed that fear, but then he heard a squeal from the bedroom. He strode in that direction as fast as h could and when he leaned against the door jamb he was confronted with the sight of Edie, supporting herself on the side of the bed, sidling up to the end - with a tube of bright red lipstick that she had somehow swiped from her Mom’s dresser, uncapped the lid, got it all over her face and was now proceeding to use it like a crayon on her parents’ clean bedsheets. Going into damage control mode, he swept her back up and back through the landing of the Sousa residence, trying and failing miserably to avoid the excited flailing of small hands leaving streaks of red on both their arms. As he plonked himself down on the sofa with her in his knee she seemed to gain enough control of her limbs to shove the tube into his face, somehow landing the stick directly onto his lips. She made determined swiping motions, painting his cheeks, his chin, one half of his top lip and the tip of his nose. He rather forcefully removed the offending item from her grasp and, realising he had left the lid in the bedroom, put it on the arm of the chair. Presenting her with the cup she grasped it with both hands and began sucking hard. Jack merely had to hold her upright as she basically necked hat had been a full pan of milk in one go. When she came back up for air, she looked up at him with an expression of smug satisfaction - he couldn't help noticing in that moment how like her mother she was. Damn, Sousa was screwed. 

Task achieved, he looked down at himself, and at Edie, in their reddened state and registered that he was going to have to get the waxy stains out of their clothes somehow - he could deal with his when he got home, but Edie’s needed to come out pretty soon, if they even did come out. He hoped that they did, this was one of his good shirts. He absentmindedly put Edie down to go and put the bottle back in the kitchen for later, but when he came back she had continued drawing with the lipstick, all over the carpet this time. There were swirls reaching right over to the train tracks in the corner. How she was so fast already was unfathomable to Jack. He sighed. As he walked over to her, she blinked, and let out the biggest yawn he had ever seen from such a tiny person. He picked her up and gently prised the tube from her grasp as she laid her head on his chest and shut her eyes. Okay, maybe just a quick sit-down then I can change her, he thought. He sat down and kicked his legs up onto the sofa. She briefly opened her eyes and looked at him, slightly perturbed by the unwanted motion, but stilled when he laid her on his chest properly. The last thing that crossed his mind was to look out for a new shirt in case the stains actually didn’t come out…

<> >< <>  


Something changed, and he stirred. Looking, he closed his eyes again, hoping the image of Carter standing over him with Edie on one hip and a hand on the other was just a weird nightmare. It wasn’t. He groaned, and sat himself up, slouched up against the back of the sofa. Peggy cocked an eyebrow, and said crisply,  
“Please, Chief Thompson - could you explain why both you and my child are covered in lipstick?”  
He glanced over at Sousa, who was finding this all very funny, the bastard. Seeing that he would get no help from him, he turned back to the devil’s mistress herself.  
He coughed.  
“Well…”


End file.
